Let Us Not Forget Kevin Cunningham, The Creator Of The Petition.

There are many supporters for Justice for Trayvon Martin. Those supporters include family members of Trayvon Martin, civil rights activists, bloggers, and anyone else who deems that the killing of Trayvon Martin was unjustified in every regard.

Mr. Mark O’Mara likes to tell his spiel of how the Martin/Fulton family hired a publicist named Ryan Julison to champion their cause in getting media recognition. The fact of the matter is that it was Natalie Jackson who sought him out and hired him for the family. She knows as well as all people of color, a case like this will not get the media attention it deserves without a publicist.

The shooting of Trayvon was on local TV in Florida. For two weeks, other than those locally in Florida, no one else knew about the killing of an unarmed teenager in Sanford, Florida. Considering the options left for the family, since no arrest was made, a publicist was an option to use. Tracy and Sybrina were interviewed on CBS News Morning. They have done what other parents do; get on TV and plead their case. I have often viewed news cast of tragedies happening to families, but the majority of those people who get to have their say on TV are generally white. Most news media outlets will put the face of a white child missing more often than a black child missing. Most media outlets will put the face of a killing of a white person more often than the killing of a black or brown person. This is the bias of the media outlets. This practice of media bias has been done for a very long time.

The sheer fact that a publicist had to be employed speaks to this mindset and recognition of media bias. A crime committed against a black person is not as newsworthy as a crime committed against a white person.

Which leads me to the power of the internet.

Through a law school linkserv, Kevin Cunningham learned about the killing of Trayvon Martin on March 8th 2012, 11 days after Trayvon was killed.

Kevin Cunningham used the power of the internet. He created the petition on Change.org. This petition garnered more attention than what the publicist was trying to do at the time.

O’Mara loves to rant and rave about how Martin/Fulton hired a publicist to get “their” message out. He is so wrong, I just had to call it out.

Granted the publicist did some work, but it was the petition that made it national and global news through the use of the internet.

The petition, from its inception garnered 100 signatures the first day. After a few days, it was 10,000.

A spokesperson, Megan Lubin from Change.org contacted Kevin Cunningham and suggested, which is a rare thing for this organization to do, would be to turn over the petition to Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton.

Quote from Sybrina Fulton:

“When we heard about the petition, we were overwhelmed that someone we didn’t know would take the time and effort to raise awareness about our son,” Trayvon’s mother said.

She speaks not only for the efforts of Kevin Cunningham, but for all those who signed the petition.

The petition in its final tally was 2,278,303. It is currently, the largest petition in Change.org. history. On April 11, 2012, it was announced that a capias for the arrest of the neighborhood watch captain that killed Trayvon Martin was issued, charging him, George Michael Zimmerman, with 2nd degree murder. State’s Attorney Angela Corey said that they were not pressured by outside forces to arrest George Zimmerman. The results of the investigation give evidence of 2nd degree murder, but that investigation would not have happened if not but for the efforts of Tracy, Sybrina, lawyers, ordinary people, and Kevin Cunningham who posted a petition that let everyone know that George Zimmerman should be held accountable for the killing of Trayvon Martin.

O’Mara doesn’t like pointing out the fact that the petition and the will of the family did more in a matter of days than any publicist would or could have done in the same time frame.

O’Mara and company would like to have the American & Global Public believe that if not for the hired help of a publicist, the killing of Trayvon Martin and the pending case of Fl vs GZ would not have been in the public eye.

HE IS DEAD WRONG!

We are included in those 2,278,301. The public outcry on the streets and on the internet are the reason why the killing of Trayvon Martin is front and center. Not because of the sole work of a publicist.

We demanded Justice — this call came from everybody.

We intend to get that Justice for Trayvon Martin.

If not for people like Kevin Cunningham who had the courage and the idea of starting a petition, I believe this case would have never gotten to where it is now. It’s the people who spoke up against the injustice of it all that has gotten to where we are now, and a lot of those people are on the internet. We don’t have access to big media outlets. We don’t have the money to buy air time. But our voices are just as powerful if not more than the media and radio.

Case in point: The defendant’s family has been on TV an Radio. It has gotten them, nothing, nada, zilch.

No amount of TV coverage can speak as much as our signatures, petitions, marches, blogs, and our continued support for Trayvon Martin and his family.

The internet can be a powerful tool to use for creating awareness. I am proud to be a part of the positive work and continuing efforts in our quest for Justice for Trayvon Martin.

The one year anniversary of the death of Trayvon Martin is in three days. I thought it was appropriate to go back and look at who and when people got involved.

Kevin Cunningham was at the front of the line.

Kevin Cunningham, from our home here at BlackButterfly7, thank you from the bottom of all of our hearts.

Nice job, Blushedbrown…energy…vision…righteousness and justice. I don’t think the defense clearly understands the energy pushing for a just resolution, i.e. a conviction. They seem convinced that they can assassinate Trayvon and DeeDee’s character and march to an acquittal. I think they badly miscalculate but their problem not mine. I can’t wait until trial.

Thank you guys. I’m truly in awe of Kevin Cunningham and all of us in our fight for Justice. It just goes to show that it’s not a black or white thing. It’s a wrong and right thing. You don’t have to be a certain race, color, creed to recognize that. That’s why I admire Kevin Cunningham for not only seeing what we all see, but acting in a postive, proactive, non-violent way.

Thank you!!! What got me was he heard about it 11 days after the killing of Travyon. He was already taking action, before we all really knew about it in other parts of the country. He is a true warrior for Justice for Trayvon !!!

Thank you so much for this excellent article and your appreciative recognition of Kevin Cunningham.

The most important point that you made was:

I have often viewed news cast of tragedies happening to families, but the majority of those people who get to have their say on TV are generally white. Most news media outlets will put the face of white child missing more often than a black child missing. Most media outlets will put the face of a killing of a white person more often than the killing of a black or brown person. This is the bias of the media outlets. This practice of media bias has been done for a very long time.